I-Mab (the “Company”) (Nasdaq: IMAB), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel biologics, today announced the signing of two new collaborations with emerging biotech companies in China to strengthen its next-generation innovation pipeline.
The collaborations with Immorna, an mRNA biotech company, and neoX Biotech, an AI-enabled R&D biotech company, allow I-Mab the access to transformative technologies in its quest to discover and develop novel oncology therapeutics. I-Mab will be developing novel anti-cancer antibody therapeutics through Immorna’s pioneering self-replicating mRNA platform. Moreover, through a strategic collaboration agreement, I-Mab will work with neoX Biotech for up to 10 novel biologics programs using neoX’s proprietary artificial intelligence algorithm. The announcement today is the new additions to the existing collaboration agreements with Complix for cell-penetrating antibody platform and Affinity for masking antibody platform in March 2021, positioning the Company to continually expand its globally competitive pipeline of next generation antibody assets enabled by transformative technologies.
“Since the launch of our discovery initiative earlier this year, we have identified transformative technologies that can enable us to rapidly expand the emerging portfolio of next generation novel antibody assets to sustain our innovative immuno-oncology pipeline,” said Dr. Taylor Guo, Chief Scientific Officer of I-Mab. “The immense success of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines exemplifies that mRNA-based drugs have finally established themselves as transformative medicines. And channeling the power of AI into drug discovery holds great promise from unlocking novel targets and modalities to accelerating all aspects of R&D. By embracing these technologies, we have again demonstrated our commitment in executing against our long-term innovation strategy.”
“We are delighted to establish this collaboration with I-Mab. By unlocking the potential of in vivo synthesized therapeutic antibody modality built on messenger RNA technology, we strive to realize our common mission of bringing the world’s first self-replicating mRNA therapeutics to cancer patients,” said Dr. Zihao Wang, CEO of Immorna.
“We look forward to working with I-Mab to generate novel oncology assets, leveraging our proprietary cutting-edge AI technology and unique capabilities to overcome the challenges of drug discovery and create new drugs better and faster,” said Dr. Hang Chen, CEO of neoX Biotech.
Both partner companies will receive undisclosed upfront and/or milestone payments stipulated in the collaboration agreements.
